Communicator | Campaigner | Author | Strategist

Connect

Header Menu

Beat up: Election authorisation for blogs

The latest confected outrage to come from the blogosphere is the draconian notion that people who comment on elections, candidates or parties during an election period, should have to own up to them.

Asking whether it is “taking responsibility or being silenced”, Deborah on Larvatus Prodeo suggests that she may not make election comment since she’ll have to publish name and her address with that comment.

No doubt, the geniuses behind the ludicrous NoCleanFeed website Chairman KRudd will see this is another nail in the coffin of free-for-all internet commentary.

The requirement for authorisation of election comment is far from draconian. It is central to democracy. Underpinning our political discourse is that everyone have the right to make a statement – but you need to stand by your statement. During an election, it would be a serious detriment to not require persons to publicly attach their name when making a statement regarding the election. We have all seen how noxious it can get with anonymous shit-sheets (like the Lindsay leaflet scandal in 2007). We should be applauding the effort to stamp out this kind of cowardly comments on the internet.

If you won’t put your name to what you’re saying, don’t publish it on the internet.